Litigation Specialization

The Paralegal Specialist Certificate in Litigation is intended to introduce students to the legal skills required to serve the community effectively and ethically in a litigation practice. The Litigation Specialization covers case analysis, legal research, drafting pleadings, motion and discovery documents, evidence, and preparation of cases for trial. The program provides an academic and practical education of uncompromising quality. The certificate is approved by the American Bar Association and offered only at the Los Angeles and Woodland Hills campuses.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be ableto:• Discuss broad legal principles from the primary areas of law,such as Torts, Contracts, Real Property, and others, and explainthe definitions of certain basic legal terms and phrases.• Conduct legal research using manual and computer-assistedmethods.• Demonstrate the basic process of legal reasoning and analysis.• Explain the litigation process and the paralegal’s role in pretrial,trial, and post-trial proceedings.• Recognize how broad ethical principles apply to paralegals in alitigation practice.

Students may earn more than one Paralegal Specialist Certificate.Generally, any course completed for any one Paralegal SpecialistCertificate need not be repeated and will apply towards otherParalegal Specialist Certificates. Each certificate is tailored to includetraining in substantive legal analysis, drafting legal documents, andunderstanding procedural matters.

Requirements

This program option requires the completion of 90 quarter units of coursework. It includes 8 courses (22.5 quarter units and 13.5 CEUs), all of which arelegal specialty courses. Please note that a minimum of 27 quarterunits of general education course work (across at least threedisciplines, such as social science, natural science, mathematics,humanities, foreign language, and English) are required by theAmerican Bar Association.

All lower division general education courses must be completed atNational University or another regionally-accredited institution. Inthe absence of transfer credit, additional general electives may benecessary to satisfy total units for the degree.

Paralegals may not provide legal services directly to the public, except as permitted by law.

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